Mum's Obituary

Anne Holliday, 82, formerly of Bradmore, Nottingham, England, Front Royal, VA and most recently of Powhatan, VA, died at home Thursday, November 19^th, surrounded by children, grandchildren, and dear friends. She was “Mum” to her children, “GranAnne” and “Oma” to her grandchildren, and had countless honorary children and grandchildren. As a nurse midwife, she delivered more than 2000 babies. As a nursing instructor, she trained nurse’s aides for over three decades. She earned a black belt in Karate, was a downhill skier and world traveler. Anne was a member of Calvary Episcopal Church in Front Royal, and St. Luke’s Episcopal Church in Powhatan. She completed an intensive, Episcopalian spiritual retreat known as Cursillo last month: DeColores! She was a cherished member of the St. Luke’s Knitting Guild and after her retirement at 78, she volunteered on many international builds for Habitat for Humanity and Cambiando Vidas. She is survived by her five children and seven grandchildren. Had she not been in a car accident, she would still be drinking proper tea and laughing with her family and friends. A memorial celebrating her rich and illustrious life is scheduled for Saturday, November 28th at 2 p.m. at St. Luke’s Episcopal Church in Powhatan, VA. In lieu of flowers, donations can be made in memory of Anne Holliday to Cambiando Vidas, PO Box 5015, Brookfield, CT 06804 or http://www.cambiandovidasdr.com/

I got some help with it from Composer Brother, BIL Ian, and John Morgan.  :-)

Mum

Update:

Memorial for Mum

this Saturday, November 28th at 2 p.m.

St. Luke's Episcopal Church

2245 Huguenot Trail, Powhatan, VA 23139

In lieu of flowers, you can make a donation in her name to Cambiando Vidas, one of the organizations she built houses with in the Dominican Republic. 

Snail mail: Cambiando Vidas, PO BOX 5015, Brookfield, CT 06804

Taken on Mum's 80th birthday, by John Morgan, author of Grasshopper Notes.
Mum believed the world would be a better place if EVERYONE read John's blog!

Last week Mum was in a head-on collision and suffered from a broken pelvis, 8 fractured ribs, fractured tibia, broken nose and lacerations. She was in the ICU, with wonderful nurses, but it was just too much for her; no sleep, constant interruptions, and she was in a lot of pain. Wednesday we made the decision to bring her home to her flat, and bring in Hospice.

Last night, surrounded by family and friends. our dear priest, Sandi Kerner, anointed Mum with oil and gave a blessing. Ruth said, "Mum, we love you and want you to stay. But if you need to go, you can go." And she did, at home, surrounded by loved ones.

I am so grateful to have had this blog to document our conversations and adventures together. We had many cups of tea, and lots of laughter. Since Mum's move here, I have spent almost every evening with her, knitting and having tea, watching Jeopardy and Castle and all her other favourite shows.

For her 80th birthday, I did a special blog post, so I won't repeat those photos here. This is how I want to remember Mum:

 

Me:What are you doing, Mum?
Mum: Oh, just breaking up this concrete.

I should say that she did this with a sledgehammer, by hand! That was Mum.

Mum was many things to many people. She was memorable wherever she was, with whomever she was with.

Daughter

Sister

Wife

Mother

At Christmas time.

Another Christmas time. :-)

Grandmother

And a bit later:

One summer, Mum had all the grand kids for the week:

She used to give the kids surgical gloves to blow up:

She was "GranAnne" and doted not just on her biological grandchildren, but adopted their friends as well!

For Christmas, she decided to give her grandchildren "an experience," so for a few years, she took them to the Japanese restaurant:

You could say that FIRE is a good dining experience!

For the past 3 years, it's been skiing.

Builder

Birthday card from this year.

Mum & Ruth helped our friends Rachel & Carlos when they were building their house. Rachel took the next two photos:

Grouting.

Knitter

She was an expert knitter, and had taken to making Plarn bags; plastic "yarn" bags:

She taught me to knit, & I made her this prayer shawl:

World Traveler

I would drop her off at the airport, and off she went! 

Off to Habitat Builds in Poland, Hungary or Cambiando Vidas in the Dominican Republic. Or to see friends.

South Africa: Demonstrating that we are British. We love nature & we are NOT afraid of lions!

Another trip to Australia with Prim & Judy. 

Friend

At Mel & John's son's Josh's wedding:

After I got the Lake House, friend Prim came from Australia for a vizzie:

Baker

Singer

She sang with the Front Royal Oratorio Society.

After she moved, we'd come back up to watch fireworks:

One year it rained and we had the whole place to ourselves!

At The River House

When I moved to the River House, I got to spend more time with Mum:

In "her" chair, with Maggie & Millie.

This is a typical Mum pose; hands-on-hips:

Dog tolerator.

In my office, Millie on her bed:

She came to help me clean windows:

On my birthday, we'd had a lot of snow. She made it down the road, but couldn't get up the last mile of driveway. That didn't stop her, of course!

See? Flowers and prezzies.

We went for a drive over the mountain. Here she is looking down at the Shenandoah Valley:

Her birthday at the River House:

2011, my last week there.

Birthday Gal

This is from Mum's surprise 65th b-day party

At her house in Bentonville, with Pioneer Sister's famous chocolate ganache cake.

Mum's birthday in 2014:

This past year she was in Scotland & celebrated in the Orkneys.

She Loved to Laugh

Ruth gave Mum a yoga shirt:

Mum loved tai chi & tap-dancing, but referred to her yoga class
as "Torture yoga." "I don't like all the bendy-pretzlely moves."

 Church Christmas dinner:

I don't know what we were talking about, but here's her response:

The Anne Holliday Eye Roll captured.

 And here she is, cleaning up of course:

We LOVE you, Mum!!!